Secrets of the eBay

CHAPTER 2: Establishing Your Identity: Your Mission and Your Web Presence 37
In Shiana’s case, there are several “front doors” to their business on the Web, and the
various sites link to one another to boost traffic and present shoppers with different sales
options. If you want to start your own successful PowerSeller business on eBay, you should
also think about creating an About Me page, an eBay Store, and a web site. Chapter 10
discusses creating an eBay Store to attract customers, and Chapter 7 examines creating a
business presence in multiple locations on eBay and the Web. When it comes to creating your
own business web site, you need to follow a couple of “best practices,” as described next.
Choose a Domain Name That’s Easy to Remember
As I’m sure you’ll agree, the name “Shiana.com” is easy to remember because of its
uniqueness. If you can choose a domain name that consists of a single word (or perhaps
two words), that makes sense for your business, and that is not being used in the dot-com
domain, you’re in an ideal situation.
A domain name is an easy-to-remember alias for a location on the Internet. Instead of a
computer address such as 202.144.55.2, or a long URL such as http://www.webhostingservice
.com/~username/filename, a domain name is a short term that you purchase and assign
(for example, shiana.com or ebay.com) so that people can find your web site more easily.
Of course, it’s getting more and more difficult to find single words that can be translated
to short domain names. You can create domain names in domains such as .biz and .net, but
they don’t have the same “cachet” as one in the dot-com domain.
Give some thought to a domain name and business name that are short and easy
to remember. If the name has other meanings, so much the better. Pam Thien explains
that the word “Shiana” is from a Japanese bonsai red-leaf maple. “It’s the rarest
and one of the most difficult to grow of all the bonsai; we were told that if a
person is able to grow a Shiana, they are able to conquer all other bonsai. My
mom introduced us to the word when she told us bedtime stories. I decided to
register ‘Shiana.com’ to constantly remind us that even if times are bad, we are
growing a ‘Shiana’.”
Create a Business Web Site
Most of the PowerSellers I interviewed for this book have a business web site: a site that
isn’t connected to eBay formally but that is hosted with another company. The site may
have a link to the seller’s current auctions on eBay, but the site’s main purpose is to provide
a way to sell directly to customers, without having to pay eBay’s fees. eBay provides an
invaluable way for businesses to acquire customers, but once they develop loyalty through
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